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Texas Rep says she's a pansexual. What the heck is that?
By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
August 15th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
August 15th, 2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
Texas State representative, Mary Gonzales (D) came out during her campaign as an openly practicing lesbian. Despite this admission, she was elected, based as her supporters said, on her ability to get the job done. Now, she has upped the ante, repudiating the lesbian label and identifying herself as a pansexual.
AUSTIN, TX (Catholic Online) - A pansexual is a person who feels equally attracted to both men and women, including men and women who identify themselves as gay or transgendered.
While the vast majority of people are attracted to the opposite sex, and homosexuals claim same-sex attraction, pansexuals claim they are attracted to both genders and all "gender identities". For some using this label, they claim that they not only have a right to be so attracted but that it should be treated as a new civil right.
According to researchers, pansexuals don't recognize "gender binaries."
Articles in The Blaze and The Huffington Post said, "Though many might describe Gonzalez's orientation as bisexual, pansexuals don't believe in a "gender binary," and hence can be attracted to all gender identities."
Gonzalez said in an interview with The Voice, that she doesn't believe in a gender binary because "gender identity isn't the defining part of my attraction," and that she never fully embraced the term "lesbian."
Although she "came out" as bisexual at age 21 (meaning she self identified as wanting to engage in sexual activity with both men and women), Gonzalez said she has also dated transgender and "gender-queer" people, in addition to women.
Gonzalez. continued: "As I started to recognize the gender spectrum and dated along the gender spectrum, I was searching for words that connected to that reality, for words that embraced the spectrum. At the time I didn't feel as if the term bisexual was encompassing of a gender spectrum that I was dating and attracted to."
While members of the LGBT community are praising this latest development, most of the rest of the nation is simply trying to come to terms with a new form of sexual identification of which many were previously unaware. Many are also asking, what's next for a culture spiraling out of control?
© 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.
While the vast majority of people are attracted to the opposite sex, and homosexuals claim same-sex attraction, pansexuals claim they are attracted to both genders and all "gender identities". For some using this label, they claim that they not only have a right to be so attracted but that it should be treated as a new civil right.
According to researchers, pansexuals don't recognize "gender binaries."
Articles in The Blaze and The Huffington Post said, "Though many might describe Gonzalez's orientation as bisexual, pansexuals don't believe in a "gender binary," and hence can be attracted to all gender identities."
Gonzalez said in an interview with The Voice, that she doesn't believe in a gender binary because "gender identity isn't the defining part of my attraction," and that she never fully embraced the term "lesbian."
Although she "came out" as bisexual at age 21 (meaning she self identified as wanting to engage in sexual activity with both men and women), Gonzalez said she has also dated transgender and "gender-queer" people, in addition to women.
Gonzalez. continued: "As I started to recognize the gender spectrum and dated along the gender spectrum, I was searching for words that connected to that reality, for words that embraced the spectrum. At the time I didn't feel as if the term bisexual was encompassing of a gender spectrum that I was dating and attracted to."
While members of the LGBT community are praising this latest development, most of the rest of the nation is simply trying to come to terms with a new form of sexual identification of which many were previously unaware. Many are also asking, what's next for a culture spiraling out of control?
© 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.